BRITAIN: The Wheels Of Justice

BRITAIN: The Wheels Of Justice

They had spent a quarter to a third of their lives behind bars, convicted on faulty evidence, but finally last week the Birmingham Six were free. Sentenced 15 years ago to life in prison for 21 deaths caused by two 1974 Birmingham pub bombings carried out in the name of the Irish Republican Army, the six Irishmen won their liberty after Britain's Court of Appeal at last concurred with their contention that the case against them was a sham.

Last month prosecutors were forced to discard most of their evidence against the six, now 42 to 60. Tests that purported to...